ABOUT THE BOOK
Two young friends embark upon an epic journey across 1940s middle America in search of answers, a family, and a place to call home.
The only kind of life Brighton Friedrich understands is the one she has endured within the dreary walls of a rural Pennsylvania asylum. A nurse has thoughtfully educated and raised Brighton, but she has also kept vital information from her in order to keep her close. Brighton befriends a boy whom she calls Angel—he doesn’t know his name—and as the two of them learn more about what lies beyond the walls they call home, they fight for their release and eventually escape.
However, the world outside the only place they’ve ever known is not what they expect. They have no real names, no money, and no help—and they must rely upon the kindness of strangers as they walk and hitchhike from Pennsylvania to Michigan to find their last hope of a home.
This heartbreaking journey, narrated in gorgeous prose, explores what it means to belong—and to scour the universe with fresh eyes for the brightness within.
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: October 22, 2019
MY REVIEW
Wow. The Bright Unknown by Elizabeth Byler Younts is historical fiction at its finest. Exquisite and heartbreaking and hopeful, it is one of those books that needs to be experienced.
Born into an asylum, Brighton Friedrich spends her growing-up years surrounded by mental patients, nurses and doctors, and a boy she called Angel. She longs to know the world beyond the asylum’s boundaries, yet is as trapped by its harsh realities as any patient. As the narrative alternates between her present and her past, Brighton’s journey toward a future of freedom unfolds, weighted with frustration, emotion, and authenticity and driven by masterful storytelling.
Younts brings the experience of an asylum to life with haunting clarity, and in sharing Brighton’s story, she shows readers that even in history’s unsavory moments, light can shine. It’s not always easy to read, but The Bright Unknown is entirely worth the discomfort. I highly, highly recommend it.
★★★★★
I received a complimentary copy of this book and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GUEST POST FROM THE AUTHOR
The Bright Unknown was born out of a seed of a true story that my husband’s grandmother, Gigi, shared with me. Gigi told me that when she was a young girl living in Oklahoma her mom had a friend who was a nurse. During one of her visits over coffee she would occasionally talk about her patients at the local asylum. One particular story really intrigued Gigi and even decades later she still remembered it. The story was about a patient who had a baby while at the hospital and while Gigi remembers nothing about the patient or the child, she knew that when she moved out of Oklahoma several years later that asylum-born girl was around eighteen and still living within the walls of that hospital along with her patient-mother.
That story stuck with me. This trapped girl and her mother wouldn’t let me go. I began to wonder over her and ask all sorts of unanswered questions. Slowly but surely my imagined story for her came to life. Layer after layer I learned about Brighton, my name for her. I also named two characters after Gigi, her first and middle, as an honor to her. This story was born from a memory but now these characters feel real and present in my life today and I hope you will journey with them in The Bright Unknown.
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